Microphone Mike

"People just sort of stand around and stare," says Mike Pereira of the San Diego Music Awards. "I wanted to do something that wasn't so serious."

So, at the awards ceremony, Microphone Mike (a.k.a. Pereira) and his nine-member crew staged impromptu dance parties in the audience throughout the evening, dancing around the boom box they brought in.

A recording engineer, Pereira is co-owner of Black Box, the Golden Hill studio that has recorded tracks by SDMA nominees Sirhan Sirhan, Transfer, Japanese Sunday, and Goodbye Blue Monday. Pereira says his Microphone Mike alter ego creates music inspired by the '80s' "Miami booty bass" scene led by 2 Live Crew. Microphone Mike was nominated in the Best Electronic category.

"I'm not sure if I fit in that category. It's true I do make beats on an electronic piece of equipment, but I don't know if Miami booty bass qualifies as electronic."

When he didn't win the Best Electronic award (the Album Leaf did), Mike and his posse stormed the stage anyway.

"I heard my name, and I just expected we would win. I had my two main ho's and my go-go dancer with me.... I start a dance party wherever I go, but we didn't get kicked out for that. We got kicked out for being too damn all-around awesome."

He says Viejas security became confrontational when his crew walked through the casino with their boom box blasting.

"My deejay, Master Maricón, who was wearing a bright yellow ski suit, was kicked out first. Then there were ten Viejas police surrounding us for no reason. They asked us to leave the premises. They followed us for ten minutes, all the way out with two SUVs, all the way to the end of the reservation...."

Pereira, whose Microphone Mike persona has been around since 1998, says his crew only appears at the Casbah or the Beauty Bar.

"I only play those two places or private house parties. I don't want to dilute my power."

The first 17-song, all-local Black Box compilation will be available this week at local record stores. -- Ken Leighton

- San Diego city beat

Microphone Mike
Teen Idol?
"Microphone Mike is a joke—a character invention by Mike Pereira (Black Box Studios) that falls somewhere between Ali G and Luther Campbell, complemented by a pretty sweet Dick Dastardly mustache. But this isn’t just an overextended inside gag. Pereira’s production chops make this tongue-in-cheeky facsimile of ’80s Dirty South rap believable, if not likeable". MS/microphonemike. - City Beat